During the presidential campaign when Donald Trump spoke of putting “America first,” I never thought he meant “America only.” It appears that others understood him quite differently. They are not happy with his overseas actions. As summed up by Ann Coulter, “We want the ‘president of America’ back — not ‘the president of the world.’”

Of course, Coulter, along with other Trump loyalists like Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Ingraham, and Mike Cernovich, were not upset because the president bombed another country. They were upset because he bombed Syria after saying for years that we should stay out of there.

They felt betrayed and double-crossed.

They also felt that any American intervention in Syria was unwise, especially if it led to an attempt to remove Assad.

But we did not only bomb Syria. We sent warships to North Korea, warning the demented dictator of that country to behave, or else.

For Coulter, this means that Trump has already become a pawn of the Washington establishment. As she wrote:

Looking for some upside to this fiasco, desperate Trump supporters bleated that bombing Assad had sent a message to North Korea. Yes, the message is: The Washington establishment is determined to manipulate the president into launching counterproductive military strikes. Our enemies — both foreign and domestic — would be delighted to see our broken country further weaken itself with pointless wars.

What, then, are we to make of this? Has Trump caved in to the establishment already? Has he abandoned his pledge to put “America first”?

Nothing Unique About Trump’s ‘America First’ Promise

On the larger question of President Trump and the Washington establishment, time will tell. The same can be said about which direction the president will go. Will it be the way of Jared Kushner or will it be the way of Steve Bannon (a dramatic oversimplification)? Only time will tell.

But when it comes to Trump’s bombing of Syria and standing up to North Korea, I see no contradiction between these actions and “America first.” There is nothing exceptional with the elected leader of a country saying that they intend to put the interests of their country first. But of course! (For more from the author of “‘America First’ Does Not Mean ‘America Only'” please click HERE)